the of mirror eye

* Peter Brotzmann Octet: Machine Gun (second take) (20.0 mb)
From Machine Gun : FMP : FMP CD 24

Born in 1941, Herr Peter Brotzmann has been blowing tops off heads for forty years now. Inspired by the high energy playing of Albert Ayler and John Coltrane, Peter Brotzmann picked up the saxophone and clarinet, unleashing his version of jazz in 1967 and hasn’t stopped since. Even at the beginning of his game, he evinces a signature sound of unrivaled intensity that has rarely been exceeded or even matched. This release, his second one, is a total doozy.

For intensity, I’ve heard nothing that has quite the impact of the title track’s opening moments, the saxophone of Brötzmann, Parker, and Breuker levelled at a common target and firing off round after round. It could be claimed that intensity was all that Brötzmann had in this period. If so, he certainly knew how to use it; his forcefulness pulls Parker and Breuker into his orbit and a sense of tension ensues when the other instruments take over as-we await the awesome re-entry of the saxophones. A little diversion for the two bowed basses - call-and-response stuff, clichéd probably even then - becomes almost unbearably nerve-racking as the horns begin to growl and nudge their way in and we wait for it to take over, that gargantuan bloody noise, that landslide of sound… (from the liner notes)

The amazing this is that the sound descriptions in the liner notes are hardly hyperbole. Instead, Steve Lake merely speaks the truth. This is really the most intense music that I’ve ever heard (notice the lack of qualifiers in that last statement). So, if you’ve never heard this music before, make sure you’re sitting, as its gonna knock you flat on your back. Also, make sure to check out the rest of his releases, I seriously haven’t heard a bad one yet.

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